Day 26 Off the beaten Path

SYNOPSIS: I visited the remote desert sites of Mari, 10 km away from the Iraqi border and of Dura Europos, near the Euphrates River, where I ended up on a motor bike again.IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE WITH NO ONE‘Desolate’, was the word that crept up in my mind repeatedly as I roamed the sites of Mari and Dura Europos today.  I decided to head out towards the Iraqi border to visit these two remote archaeological sites in the Euphrates Delta.  No public transportation goes to either site, but they can both be reached quite comfortably by about a one kilometer hike from the main highway.  The day was perfect for this; it was sunny and warmer than in recent days.A ramshackle sign pointed to Mari.  Lonely Planet warns that unless you are a hard core archaeology buff the site will hold nothing of interest.  They were right.   But I wanted to see for myself.  Some of the most beautiful sculptures of second Millennium BC have been found here.  I reported about them briefly after visiting the National Museum in Damascus, where some are housed now.  Art-historically speaking, the images and the palaces and temples that held them are crucial.  But it takes a lot of imagination to envision where and how they were found.  All you see are a few mud-brick walls and some rolling hills with a few trenches.  My hat is off to the archaeologists for finding what they did and for translating the few remains into images of a vital past.Needless to say that there was nobody there, except me.  Not even a guard, or a sheep or a goat, or a snake; not anyone, not anything.  Back to the road I went after taking a few pictures and surrounding the site once.  Flagging down a micro bus is no problem.  Dura Europos, about 20 km away, was my next target.  There I expected a bit more activity.  But once again I faced a deserted road with a ramshackle, rusty sign.  But yes, there was a real ticket shed and a visitor book and a guard with a motor bike.  There was even a car!  The guard told me that he had all of five visitors today.  Two Germans, two Italians, and now me.  The Italians were leaving just when I arrived.  I had the place to myself.  I had planned on spending about 2-3 hours there as the site itself is huge.  It also is reported to have some of the most beautiful views of the Euphrates flood plain and I wanted to just sit there and look and take it all in.But things don’t always work out as planned.  Dura did not give me the same feel of awe as remote Rasafa did.  It just did not have the magic to it, even though it was even bigger and as remote.  I don’t know what it was that was missing.  It was good to be there, but it did not knock me off my socks.  I was about 1 hour into my visit when I heard a motor bike.  I thought it was a Bedouin trying to sell me something, but it was the guard, Shawar. He told me that the site would close in about ½ hour – no way I could make my way around on foot in that time, so he was there to take me on his motor bike!  Did I ever mention that these dreadful rides in the rough and rocky desert on a motorbike without a road or a path scare me?!  Well, I was in for another one of them, but I had little choice.  Shawar took me to the main points of interest, an odeon, a temple, the fortification walls, the synagogue, the scenic view.The synagogue in its entirety has been recreated at the Damascus museum.  Again, I had a hard time picturing how at this site here which was little more than stone-faced mud walls these important frescoes could have survived in such good condition!  Dura Europos has gotten its reputation as a tolerant, multi-cultural center because of the side-by-side of various religious buildings.  The synagogue is one of the earliest ever found anywhere. With figurative representations of biblical scenes it is unique in the world.But what was most breath-taking was the view of the Euphrates flood plain.  Again, there is no image that can quite capture the vastness of the view.  Dura is located on top of a natural cliff.  The river is way, way down – this depth does not come through in any image.  But throwing a rock down and seeing how long it takes until it hits the water gave my stomach some butterflies.    The view on the other shore of the river is unobstructed for as far as the eye can see because it is all flat.  The area is full of lush green fields.  Such a contrast to the surrounding dry desert!  From all I gather, the Euphrates no longer floods.  That is a surprise and I will have to do more research into this.  Is there less water?  Is there a dam?  The unpredictable floods were the single most crucial factor in the relationship between ancient people and the river.  It shaped their world view.  Why did that stop?Shawar had some fun with me, my fear, and my reluctance to hold on to him tight enough on that motorbike.   Yes, I got another proposal…  It is just so sad to see how deprived and desperate these young men around here are.  Needless to say that I declined, and needless to say that Shawar did not scare me or make me uncomfortable.  I know where he is coming from.  He just had to ask on the off-chance I would accept.  And I explained to him that I was married and that I had a son his age and that it was not OK for him to stroke my hand while I had to hold on to him on his bike.   He backed off immediately even if with disappointment.  After locking the gates, he gave me a lift back to the road and off I was, back to Deir Ez Zoor with another microbus.Every day I say a prayer of thanks to the traffic god for surviving another day.  Today we passed a nasty, nasty head on collision between a sedan and a microbus…  For several people it was too late.This was not one of the most exciting days in Syria and if I would not have the luxury of a full month here, I would probably have skipped these two places.  On the other hand, those views down the cliff to the Euphrates plain can hardly be had anywhere else and were worth the entire day!Good night.